Dick joins the circus
by kagome04
Summary: Dick joins the circus. How will Bruce react? Read and review


"Bruce?" "Yes?" "I have something I need to tell you." "alright." Bruce sat down in one of his big comfy leather armchairs and motioned for Dick to do the same. Dick had come and met Bruce at the manor to talk to him about something that he had been putting off for a while and which was weighing very heavily on his mind. So here they sat in one of the many large living rooms in stately Wayne manor. "What was it you wanted to tell me?" Dick hesitated unsure of how to begin. After several long minutes of staring at each other Dick could tell Bruce was getting agitated and losing his patience so Dick took a deep heavy breath and began. "You know how the last time Haly's circus was here I helped them out?" "Yes, you were outstanding I- we were all very proud." "You were definitely the best acrobat there." This compliment stunned Dick so much that for a moment he was unable to speak.

"Yah, well anyway the last time they were here they offered me a full time position in the show. Bruce stiffened noticeably. Fear clutched at his chest and his face tightened. Dick couldn't leave him again! Of course he did his best to hide this entire thing and make his emotions as unreadable as possible. Of course Dick noticed, he had been trained to notice even the smallest change in someone's demeanor and facial expressions. "Of course I said no." Bruce let out a huge sigh-huger than he intended and he relaxed slightly. "But…" Dick continued and Bruce stiffened again.

"Recently they told me that that they were doing this limited engagement- thing." "It's um a tour around the world." "And um…well…um…they asked me if I wanted to go with them." Bruce stiffened so that he was almost a human statue. "And?" "I said that I would think about it." "Oh." "Yah that was about a week ago and I've been seriously considering it ever since." "Believe me Bruce I've thought of little else." "Oh." Bruce said again simply because he was stunned into silence and couldn't think of anything else to say. Dick had watched a range of emotions flicker across Bruce's face in the last 15 minutes or so since they started this conversation. Of course Bruce was doing his very best to hide his emotions and keep his face as blank and stone like as possible so the emotions only flickered on his face for a moment or two but it was enough for Dick to be able to catch. To anyone else that was watching it would have seemed as though Bruce was sitting there cool and calm as a cucumber taking all this news in in stride; but Dick Grayson knew better.

"Well, Bruce cleared his throat, Have you made a decision?" "Yes, I have." "Actually that's what I wanted to talk to you about." Bruce became so rigid that for a moment it looked as though he had stopped breathing. Fear was evident-in fact rampant-on his face. Dick knew this next announcement was going to kill Bruce and he wanted to cushion the blow as much as possible. 

He took a deep breath before he said what he was about to say. "I've decided that I want to go." "I think it would be a great experience for me and it would be a lot of fun and… ah hell I just really want to go." Bruce couldn't comprehend what he was hearing. He was sure he was mishearing things. Was his son actually saying that he wanted to leave him? His heart stopped and he was sure for a second he literally stopped breathing. Tears stung his eyes as the words set in but he determinedly pushed them away. He was about to let Dick see how upset he was! Of course Dick saw how upset Bruce was and he felt so bad and his heart ached. He didn't want to hurt Bruce, he never wanted to hurt Bruce, this was just something he had to do. For a second he thought he saw- were those tears in Bruce's eyes? No that wasn't possible-was it? He couldn't be _that _upset.

"Hey Dick," "yah" "One thing you have to agree to before I'm ok with all this." Dick rolled his eyes and groaned, exasperated. "What?" You have to let me buy you some new clothes and stuff for your trip. "What?" Dick said in shock. He had thought of 1000 probable things that Bruce would say but he never expected this. Had he heard right? "you have to let me buy you some new clothes Bruce continued. "You're going away for a whole year right?" "You need a lot of stuff starting with a whole new wardrobe." Dick hadn't let Bruce buy him anything in years. Not since he quit being robin and had moved out of the manor. He was determined to make it on his own and be his own man. The fact that Bruce was offering no insisting to buy him something must mean he was ok with the whole thing-at least partially. Ok he said and smiled. This was quite possibly the best turn of events he could have hoped for.

Bruce was shocked. He had expected Dick to put up a fight. All right then. How does tomorrow at noon sound? "Sounds good" Dick said. "Alright see ya then."


End file.
